Recently, flat display devices have been actively developed, and among others, a liquid crystal display device has been particularly drawing attention for its advantages such as light weight, small thickness, and low power consumption. In particular, regarding an active matrix liquid crystal display device in which a switching element is incorporated in each pixel, attention has been focused on a structure that uses a lateral electric field (including a fringe electric field), such as an in-plane switching (IPS) mode and a fringe field switching (FFS) mode. The liquid crystal display device of such a lateral electric field mode comprises a pixel electrode and a counterelectrode that are formed in an array substrate, and switches a liquid crystal molecule by a lateral electric field substantially parallel to the main surface of the array substrate.
On the other hand, there has also been suggested a technique for switching liquid crystal molecules by a lateral electric field or an oblique electric field generated between a pixel electrode formed on an array substrate and a counterelectrode formed on a countersubstrate.